An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Twenty Six

I averted my gaze from his intense searching one for the duration of the car journey. He kept his hands to himself which left my hormones in tears. Night was fully upon us without a star in sight. The pollution here was a bummer.

My eyes closed as the sound of traffic, lightness of the stereo and slowing heartbeat filled my ears. Lights flashed above my closed lids. I was blissfully relaxed despite having freaked out while making out with Inerra.

Ought I let myself go with him? Or should I cling onto hope that maybe, just maybe, love stood a chance with Acera and I?

A sharp pain flitted against the inside of my temple. I winced. I was giving this way too much thought. Acera didn't deserve my concern. He didn't love me anymore. I had to face the facts.

    "Doesn't your mind ever give you peace?" he sighed.

I glanced over to Inerra, finding his slightly sombre stare on me. "What?" I breathed.

He looked back out to the road, lights illuminating his devilishly handsome face. "You're always worrying. Especially about Acera. Don't deny it, I have a certain ability, shall we say, that allows me to read people's emotional, mental and psychological patterns. Imagine it like a heart monitor. Right now for you, each rise is rapid because you're overly stressed," he explained softly.

What the hell? So he could read minds. That's what Patria must have meant by magical powers.

  "How do you...know it's about Acera?" I whispered. It felt so strange to say his name after so long. It was like he'd died and now I was forced to go over his will.

    "My talent is a little complicated to explain," he admitted, smiling faintly; reaching to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. I touched his hand with mine and pressed my face into his palm, marvelling the heat he radiated in just one part of his body.

  "Are you the only one that can do that?" I said quietly, keeping his fingers by my lips and inhaling his scent. He kept his hand limp; delicate; harmless. How many heads had he torn off with it? How many hearts had he ripped out?

    "As far as I know, yes. There's an entire prophecy about me. Nobody believed it at the time it was written and some parts of it are still debatable," he murmured, indicating right. We'd been driving for almost twenty minutes. "But it stated that I'd be the gifted child with the ability to change the world. Or something along the lines of that."

I looked at him for a long moment, unable to contain my curiosity. "Do you believe it? Is that what your aim in all of this is? To change this world?"

He wetted his lips with his tongue, pulling into a carpark. Something like sadness flashed in his eyes for the briefest moment. He switched off the engine before turning to reply. "You wouldn't believe my intentions if I told you, Charlie. But there's one thing I should tell you." He reached over to me with his other hand and lifted my face a little. My eyes widened. "I don't want to hurt you. Ever. Or hand you over to my father."

  "Then why did you say that the first time we met?" I fired shakily. All of this honesty was overwhelming.

He smiled at my reaction, tilting his head to the side. "How else is the big bad brother supposed to get his little brother's girlfriend's attention?"

My face was a picture of shock for a very long time. Girlfriend? That word didn't sound right. It was too childish and human. What's more, Acera never even loved me so why class us as an item?

  "Oh," I mumbled, moving his hands from my face carefully and reaching for the door handle. I tried not to think about how the word girlfriend bothered me in case he read my thoughts again and the way he'd made me seem like a possession he had to have instead of Acera.